British Prime Minister Theresa May is in an ambiguous position. She neither won the election nor lost it. Prior to the election she enjoyed a slim majority, now her Conservative Party is nine seats short of a majority. May hopes to make up the deficit with support from the Democratic Unionist Party which won 10 seats. This is not the outcome that May had in mind when she called elections seven weeks ago. Then, she hoped to gain a larger majority in order to force her version of Brexit through. Then, the Tories thought they were in a sweet spot, especially with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn enjoying lukewarm support. That lukewarm turned to hot after results were declared. Labour is not in a position to form government, but Corbyn will keep his job because none expected this Left-leaning, self-doubting leader to do so well. Seven weeks ago he was almost written off as a leader. Today he stands tall and it’s almost like he won the elections.
So, what went wrong for May? And how will Brexit shape up under a prime minister who could not get a majority? If there was a fight for No 10, it must have been a feeble one because May received a nod from the Monarch to form government. But the hard Brexit that she envisaged will definitely undergo a change. If Westminster was the problem, as stated by her when she called the snap polls, then it still is a problem because the Tories are in a weaker position than before. And May is weaker than she was seven weeks ago.
The results of the election indicate that Britain is as divided as before the Brexit vote. This was a last attempt by ‘remain’ to alter the course of political history and they might have succeeded in a small way by not giving May the mandate she wanted. Tough negotiations lie ahead with Brussels and the dilemma is that May will have to break away from Europe without compromising on economic growth. In the end it’s jobs and salary increments that will determine if Brexit was worth it. The complaint to May from nurses who had not received an increment since 2009 sums up the problem. Only this time May will have to do something instead of sweeping the problem under the carpet with a “there is no magic money tree” comment, which partially damaged her campaign. In the long term, a weaker May might be better for Britain because she will have to seek wider consultation on issues instead of pushing her views down the throat of UK. In the short-term Britain has to prepare for a bout of uncertainty and heartburn as it begins the difficult journey out of the European Union.
